


The Call

by BeautyLee



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Spoilers, Clint swears a lot, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-07 13:16:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6806386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeautyLee/pseuds/BeautyLee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint receives a call.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>(This takes place right smack dab in the middle of Captain America: Civil War. So there are spoilers everywhere.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Call

**Author's Note:**

> Holy Hell, I haven't written in a long time, and it's been even longer since I've posted anything publicly. So I apologize if this seems a little disjointed. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things.

“Why did we decide to have three kids?” Clint asks his wife as he tries to usher Cooper out the door for school. He can see Laura roll her eyes as she too, scrambles to collect the diaper bag for Nathaniel. They had woken up just a little late and were now in a rush to get the two oldest to school.

“Maybe because someone just loves me so much,” she replies. “So much he had to show me by…wrestling.”

“Why do Mommy and Daddy wrestle when they love each other?” Cooper asks at the bottom of the porch stairs.

“Well, people show each other love in different ways. Your mother and I like to wrestle.” His son doesn’t look like he believes him, but he’s not going to explain to him when he’s nowhere near puberty. “Help your mother, Coop. And where’s Lila?” As if she heard him, his second child stomps down the stairs, tugging her jacket on.

“Here, Daddy. I’m ready.” Her jacket is backwards, and Clint can spot her shoes aren’t on the right feet either. He reaches out and grabs her before she runs down the steps.

“Slow down there, babygirl.” He tugs her jacket back off and fixes it for her before kneeling to take care of her shoes too.

“I knew I messed it up!” she whines, stopping her feet and making it difficult for Clint to swap them. “I hate shoes.”

“You’ll get it. You’re super smart, just like your mother.” Clint fastens the velcro and stands again. “Hurry up and get to the car.”

“Hey, Lila, wanna wrestle?” Cooper asks as they walk towards the car. “Daddy says it’s how he and Mommy show that they love each other.”

“Don’t you dare, or else you’re going to have to change and be late for school!” Clint shouts at them before turning to his wife. “See what you started?”

“I believe you’re the one who actually started the wrestling.” Laura is grinning now, knowing that Clint is going to be hearing about this from the kids for awhile. She scoops Nathaniel out of the pack and play and leans up to give Clint a kiss. “Is there anything you can think of that we need for this weekend?”

“Condoms.” She gives him a disapproving look.

“There’ll be none of that. I only booked one room. Maybe if you’re good though, you’ll get lucky when we get back.”

“Fine.” He gives her another kiss. “Hurry up before they’re actually late. I’ll see you when you get back.” Laura hurries out the door, and Clint watches from the porch as she gets Nathaniel strapped into his car seat. He doesn’t go back inside until the car has driven away down the road and out of his sight.

The kitchen is a mess from their rushed breakfast. He starts to pick up the dirty dishes and leftover food. Somehow Nathaniel managed to get some Cheerios on the windowsill over five feet from his actual seat. Clint shakes his head, unable at this point to question some of the things his kids manage to accomplish. Parenthood is something else.

He’s piling plates into the dishwasher when he hears a phone ring. It’s not his normal phone, the one he has in his pocket at that moment. It’s the landline. With a frown, he snaps the dishwasher shut with his foot and heads down the hall. Almost no one calls the landline, and the last time someone did he got two government officials at his door wanting him to sign some stupid document or whatever. It had taken half and hour for him to explain that he’s retired, damn it. His family is his job now.

The only landline phone is in his office, and there are papers and books spread out on every surface. They all have something to do with some project or another that he wants to do on the farm, but he can never make up his mind which one to start. He’s beginning to think Laura’s going to make an itemized list for him at some point so he doesn’t have such a giant mess. The phone is still ringing when he finally gets to it, and he removes it from the cradle.

“Whoever this is better have a damn good reason for calling me,” he says gruffly. 

“Clint?” It takes him a second to place the voice. When he does, he immediately thinks about ending the call. But there’s a desperation in Captain Roger’s that bothers him. There’s not much that can frazzle the man out of time. Not anymore. He’s fought giant dinosaur-looking aliens and stood atop a flying city like it was just another Tuesday.

“Cap. It’s been awhile.” He tries to keep his voice nonchalant.

“Clint, I’m really sorry to call you, but…I need your help.”

“What is it with people not understanding I’m retired?” he says, a hint of annoyance edging into his voice. “I just had to shove a couple of guys off my porch the other day for trying to get me to sign some contract or something.”

“Did you sign it?” Steve asks tersely.

“No I didn’t sign it. They started telling me about the government calling on the Avengers for help or something and I told them to fuck right off.” He glances out the dirty window, as if he’s afraid they’re going to come wandering back up the drive any second. He also makes a mental note to actually get the window clean. He’s terrible at having an office.

“It’s called the Sokovia Accords. They want all of us to sign so that the United Nations can use us as their global attack dogs.”

“Well, I didn’t sign. I told them I didn’t want to sign. I have a family and I’m retired, and I would really like to clean my house and go water-skiing with my kids this weekend.”

“I’m a fugitive right now because I didn’t sign, Clint.” The words take him by surprise, and Clint stands up just a little straighter. His minds begins to whirl with what-ifs. He knows he shouldn’t fall back into the role of an Agent or an Avenger, but it’s like second nature for him. He clenches a fist.

“Do you think they’ll hurt my family if I don’t?” he asks, looking through the window again.

“I…don’t know. Even if you don’t help me, it might be best to take an extended vacation. They know who you are, and they may not stop until you sign.”

“Who else?” he asks. “Who else didn’t sign?”

“Just Sam and I so far. I have…I have Bucky too, but…”

“So you found him?” Steve didn’t talk much to him about his friend-turned brainwashed Hydra assassin, but he knew enough. Knew he had been searching for him ever since Hydra was exposed inside of S.H.I.E.D. That had been a fun one to explain to Laura when he told her he was essentially laid off. “Good for you. I knew you would." He grabs a large, folded up blueprint of the barn. He needs something to distract his mind, because he’s got an awful lot of questions popping up all of a sudden.

“They’re trying to kill him. His brain is fried, but I know he’s still Buck. He doesn’t want to kill anybody, but every single government seems to think he’s still the Winter Soldier. And then someone attempted to frame him for the bombing of the Accords talks in Vienna and…”

“Wait, there was a bombing in Vienna?” Clint picks up the whole phone and tugs on the cord in the wall. He carries it with him into the living room and, when he can stretch it no further, sets the cradle down and grabs the remote. He turns on the television and grumbles to himself as Jake and the Neverland Pirates appears.

“Do you live under a rock or something?” Steve asks as he fiddles with channels.

“I’m kind of more interested in taking care of my family than what’s going on out there right now.” Sure enough, the news channel is covering the bombing at the UN embassy in Vienna. ’10 dead, multiple wounded’ and ‘King of Wakanda among those killed in blast,’ scroll on the bottom of the screen. Clint makes a noise in the back of his throat. “Don’t take this the wrong way or anything, but I’m watching now and I can kind of see where they’re coming from.” A grainy picture of a hooded man appears on screen and claims that it’s James Buchannan Barnes flashes underneath.

“It wasn’t him, Clint. He was in Bucharest at the time. Look, I…” A flash of an earlier scene, before the bombing, appears. Several delegates are there mingling, and he catches a flash of red hair. Something in his chest tightens.

“Nat,” he says. “She was there?” Steve doesn’t answer for a moment, and he prepares for the worst.

“She’s with Tony. They both signed. She didn’t…she was there, but she wasn’t in the blast. She got out fine.” He releases the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Look, I know that you’ve got your family. I probably shouldn’t have called you for help. I know you’re retired.”

“No, no. I’m…glad you called. I wouldn’t have found out about this until later.” He continues to watch the news, but there’s a voice in the back of his head; whispering to him. He tries to shake it away. “What’s your next move?”

“There’s a former Soviet base in Siberia. They tried to re-create the Winter Soldier program. We’re going to go there and take care of it. It’s the only way to find out who framed Bucky. The government isn’t going to listen to us.”

“Well, I won’t lie. I can almost see their side. But you are right. Their main goal is to get at Barnes; they’re not going to care about anything else until after he’s in custody or dead.” Steve laughs, the sound low and bitter.

“It’s only one of the many reasons why I didn’t sign their stupid Accords.” There’s a muffled voice over the receiver, and Clint waits as Steve speaks to whoever is with him. “We gotta go, Clint. We need to get back to the States and get Wanda out before…”

“Wait, what do you mean get Wanda out?” What the hell has been going on since he retired?

“Where…oh, right. Under a rock.” Clint can almost picture the look of exasperation on the Captain’s face. “There was an accident in Lagos. We were after Rumlow, and he was about to off himself and take me and an entire market with him. Wanda stopped him, but she wasn’t able to hold him. Blew up a section of a building and…she killed some people. They have her under house arrest.”

“For making a mistake?” Clint bites out. He’s made plenty of mistakes as an Agent. He’s killed people before that didn’t need to be. It’s never something that he’s ever felt good about; sometimes he still has the nightmares and flashbacks. But he’s always gotten himself back up again, to do his job, so one day down the line it wouldn’t have to happen again. “She’s just a kid, Cap. And do they really think locking her up is going to make things better? It’ll only make things worse!”

“I know, Clint. I’ve tried to tell Tony that. They want to charge her for it. They’re scared of her.” Clint feels his fingers gripping the phone tighter.

“They want to charge her for a mistake that’s probably eating her up inside? The fucking government can brush off airstrikes that have killed innocent people like it’s a mistake, but when she does it, she’s dangerous. And out of control.” He stresses the words with air quotes, even though Steve can’t see them. “Like none of us have ever made mistakes. Like Tony and Banner didn’t create Ultron. Like I didn’t get my own ass brainwashed. Like Natasha didn’t…” He cuts himself off.

He imagines Wanda, curled up in her own mind somewhere away from him. Tearing herself apart from the inside. He feels like he’s been punched in the gut. The poor girl is alone, probably being watched twenty-four seven. No one to talk to. No family to…he closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Her only family is gone now; Pietro had died trying to save his stupid ass. And now the rest of them were scattered who knows where, treating her like some criminal. He’s normally pretty level-headed. Things don’t get to him as much as they do Stark or Fury or Banner. But this doesn’t sit well with him at all.

“Where is she?” he asks. “I’ll get her.”

“Clint, you really don’t have to. You have your family…”

“She’s family too.” he tells him. “And I think I owe her this much, don’t you think?” Steve doesn’t respond. “I’ll get her out and we’ll come meet you.”

“Berlin. There’s a quinjet there that we need. She’s being kept at the Avengers Facility. Vision is guarding her.” Oh great. Clint feels an ounce of panic at his sudden decision. If it were just a handful of goons it would be easy. But Vision is…a friend? At least an acquaintance he has a serious respect for. This is going to be a little tougher. “And there’s someone else. Comes with a…glowing recommendation from Sam.” He snorts. “His name is Scott Lang. Some sort of former criminal now working for a guy named Hank Pym.”

“Got it. I’ll meet you in Berlin in twenty-four hours.”

“I’m sorry, Clint.” Steve’s voice is quiet; resigned. “I shouldn’t have called you.”

“Don’t worry about it. Can’t get rusty, can I? I might actually be needed for the next alien invasion.” The other man doesn’t laugh. “Steve, I meant it when I said Wanda was family. And I mean it for all of you as well. As much as some of you drive me up a fucking wall sometimes.”

“I appreciate your help, Clint. You’re a good man. A great friend.”

“Aw, don’t start getting sappy on me now, Cap. I’m on a deadline here.” The other man chuckles. “I’ll see you in Berlin. Keep your head down.”

“Same to you. Be careful.” They hang up. For a moment, Clint stands in the dim hallway, staring at the television as it continues to play. He stands there long enough that Laura makes it back from the store to find him there. She doesn’t ask when she sees what’s on the news. Doesn’t ask while she puts the groceries away. Clint wants her to yell at him. Tell him not to go. He couldn’t say no if she did. But he knows she won’t. Knows that this is important, even if she really doesn’t understand it.

“When do you need to leave?” she asks finally, as she’s setting Nathaniel on the floor to play.

“Probably half an hour ago.” He lets her take the remote from him, changing the channel for their son to have something less bothersome for background noise.

“Then why are you still standing here?” He finally looks at her. “You have a job to do, Clint. You may not actually be getting paid for it anymore, but I know there are days when you miss it.”

“They’re keeping Wanda under house arrest for accidentally killing eleven people while trying to stop a suicide bomber from killing hundreds.”

“Pietro’s sister, right?” He nods. “Then go get her.”

“It’s complicated.” She gives him a look. He hates that look. It’s the look she always gets when she’s about to tell him that he’s wrong.

“If anybody is good at complicated, it’s you. I have faith in you, and I think Wanda needs you right now, don’t you?” He agrees with her. Laura knows how much it tore him up coming home after Pietro’s death. It’s the least he can do for her at this point. “However, you’re going to have to explain to the kids why you’re not going to go waterskiing with us.”

“It’ll be the very first thing I do when I get back. Promise.” Laura comes over and gives him a kiss on the cheek. She removes the forgotten phone from his hand.

“Good. Now get going. You’re running late.”

**Author's Note:**

> If anyone is interested, here's my [Tumblr](http://beautylee.tumblr.com)


End file.
